India clinch Asia Cup title

After a three-week and 18-match battle, India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by five wickets to lift the Asia Cup title.

India won the match, which started at 8:30 pm Bangladesh time on Sunday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Pakistan were bowled out for 146 runs after losing the last 9 wickets for just 33 runs due to excellent bowling by Indian spinners. India did not have a big target to become the undefeated champion.

India, sensing the slowdown of the wickets, increased the number of spinners in this match. The spinners did the real work. Kuldeep Yadav took 4 wickets for 30 runs in 4 overs. His highest wicket-taker in the tournament was 17.

In addition, Varun Chakraborty and Axar Patel also took 2 wickets each. The only specialist pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, took the last 2 wickets.

Farhan scored the highest 58 runs for Pakistan. Fakhar's batting came with 46 runs. Saim Ayub, who came in at number three, scored 15 runs. No one else could reach double figures.

After an incredible batting collapse, Pakistan had raised hopes of winning with the skill of the bowlers. But Tilak Verma's excellent batting destroyed all their chances. India became the undefeated champions of the Asia Cup with another excellent victory.

The team led by Suryakumar Yadav played 19.4 overs to reach the target of 147 runs.

This is the first time in 41 years that India and Pakistan faced each other in the final of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, which began in 1984. In the previous 16 editions, India played in the final 11 times and Pakistan 5 times. But they have never faced each other head-to-head.

India is now the 9-time champion in the history of the tournament while Pakistan has won the title twice. Sri Lanka has won the remaining 6 editions.

Brief Scores:

Pakistan: 146 in 19.1 overs (Farhan 57, Fakhar 46, Saim 14, Haris 0, Salman 8, Talat 1, Nawaz 6, Afridi 0, Fahim 0, Rauf 6, Abrar 1*; Dubey 3-0-23-0, Bumrah 3.1-0-25-2, Varun 4-0-30-2, Axar 4-0-26-2, Kuldeep 4-0-30-4, Tilak 1-0-9-0)

India: 150/5 in 19.4 overs (Abhishek 5, Gill 12, Suryakumar 1, Tilak 69*, Samson 24, Dubey 33, Rinku 4*; Afridi 4-0-20-1, Fahim 4-0-29-3, Nawaz 1-0-6-0, Rauf 3.4-0-50-0, Abrar 4-0-29-1, Saim 3-0-16-0)